Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church whose service has been primarily in the Roman Curia.

As the senior cardinal-bishop in attendance, he chaired the March 2013 papal conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor.

Born in Borno, Italy, the son of the carpenter Matteo Re (1908–2012),[1] Giovanni Battista Re was ordained a priest by Archbishop Giacinto Tredici in Brescia on 3 March 1957.

[4] Call to Action challenged his authority to make such a declaration, asking the Congregation for Bishops to provide an "authoritative judgment of the Holy See".

[6] Re, who as prefect of the Congregation of Bishops assisted the pope in deciding the future careers of the clergy, said, "When Monsignor Wielgus was nominated, we did not know anything about his collaboration [with the secret services].

[8] Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos stated that if anyone in the Vatican should have known about Richard Nelson Williamson's negationist views, it was Re, whose congregation oversaw information about bishops and prelates.

In a comment to an Italian newspaper, Re deplored what he called an attack on the church in Brazil: "It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated.

[13] As prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Re played a central role in Benedict XVI's attempts to discipline former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

This statement has been supported by reporting by the Catholic News Agency[14] and by Andrea Tornielli and Gianni Valente's book Il Giorno del Giudizio.

Following the April 2008 publication of Richard Sipe's "Statement for Pope Benedict XVI", Re sent McCarrick another written letter, which was presented to him at the nunciature by Nuncio Pietro Sambi, telling him to leave Redemptoris Mater and live in a monastery or become the chaplain of a home for the elderly run by nuns.

Anthony Figueiredo of 7 October 2008, McCarrick stated that "Cardinal Re has approved my moving to a parish and my Archbishop [Donald Wuerl] has been great in beginning to work that out".

According to his August 2018 "Testimony", Viganò learned from a conversation with Re sometime between 16 July 2009 and 30 June 2010[a] that Benedict XVI had imposed disciplinary measures (which Viganò inaccurately referred to as "canonical sanctions") on McCarrick that required him to leave Redemptoris Mater seminary and forbade him to celebrate Mass in public, take part in public meetings, give lectures, or travel.